Category: Events, Days Out and Competitions

On 19th June we joined several other craft and took part in an ‘adventure row’ from Wells to Blakeney organised by the Coastal Rowing Association Blakeney (CRAB). The weather couldn’t have been better! The first half followed the creek through the marsh from Wells; along East Fleet then under a VERY low iron bridge joined Stonemeal creek then Cabbage creek and out into the main Blakeney Harbour and Point. Here we were surrounded by curious seals all the way to a lunch stop at the Old Lifeboat Station. For the last half, we followed the river Glaven up to Blakeney itself. After hauling the boats out we sat in the sun with a cup of tea and bacon butties, chewing the cud!

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Returning from a break of over 100 years, with the weather Gods smiling, the Hanse Regatta provided colour, excitement, noise and atmosphere for everyone who attended. The overall club winners were Blakeney, but the results don’t reflect the sheer tenacity and competition that all the teams put in from start to finish of all 3 races. The whole of South Quay was shouting and cheering their teams home! Here are the official results but please have a look at the videos and photos of the day. I think everyone is looking forward to next year’s; So pencil out the 3rd weekend in May 2019 (Hanse Day).

So what happens when a business analyst, a councillor and a postie decide to row an ocean together?

We don’t know either, but in 2019 we’re going to find out!

Three members of the King’s Lynn Coastal Rowing Club decided to do just that. Helen Hogan, Sandra Squire & Kate Palmer have entered the 2019 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge under the team name of “The Norfolk brOARds“.

Billed as “The World’s Toughest Row”, the 3000 mile race will take them from La Gomera in the Canaries to Antigua. The three ladies will experience everything from huge waves, tropical storms, sleep deprivation, salt sores and blisters in a rowing boat seven metres long and under two metres wide. More people have climbed Everest than have rowed the Atlantic.

So what makes three Norfolk ladies decide to take on such an extreme challenge? Getting a definitive answer is difficult, Sandra, the designated team skipper, is not unused to signing up for extreme challenges, she is due to join the GREAT Britain yacht for the final leg of this years Clipper Round The World Yacht Race in June, explains – “we all share the same attitude to life really; that life is short and precious and that we should make the absolute most of every opportunity we’re given. We want to prove that ordinary people can do amazing, extraordinary things, that anything is possible.”

Incredibly, the trio only joined the King’s Lynn Coastal Rowing Club last year. Chairman Bob Panrucker says “These three rowers make their club proud and a real inspiration to anyone who has ever thought ‘I wonder if I could’ or ‘I wish I’d…’ ”

It is said that getting to the start line is the hardest part of the race, as the requirements for entrants are very stringent. An ocean rowing boat can cost upwards of £60,000 alone with total race costs estimated at over £100,000, which the trio are expecting to raise through sponsorship. The team believe they are the first team to enter the race from Norfolk, so are hoping to use it as an opportunity to promote Norfolk to a global audience of over 80 million people. The ladies are offering adventurous companies the chance to get involved and support their campaign by providing sponsorship in exchange for various promotional opportunities with the team.

The trio will also be using their challenge to raise money for charity, but are not in a position to announce which their chosen charities will be at the moment.

To launch their campaign to the start line and beyond and to celebrate International Women’s Day, the ladies will be holding their first Facebook Live session on Thursday 8th March at 7.30pm. They will be introducing themselves, talking about the race ahead and their reasons for signing up. Questions are invited and can be emailed in advance to: info@norfolkbroards.co.uk or sent through the link on their Facebook page: @Norfolkbroards.

Once teams cross the start line, they are entirely self sufficient for the duration of the crossing, although there are two Atlantic Campaigns support yachts that follow the race fleet in case of emergency.

Teams must all complete certain mandatory training requirements on such topics as ocean rowing, navigation, first aid, sea survival etc.

Teams must carry enough food onboard for 90 days, although the current race record for a ladies trio team is 60 days, 18 hours & 34 mins. (2017 race record – Atlantic Ladies)

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We all arrived in good time and met up at the car park for a quick cuppa before we launched. The car park and slip way were easy to find and use. We set off across Wroxham Broad and made our way down the River Bure to Salhouse Broad where we had a quick stop. Then we set off further along the Bure where we stopped for tea, coffee and a splendid selection of CAKES!! After putting the world to rights we all swapped seats and made our way back along the Bure to Wroxham Broad, we had a bit of a row around the edge then headed back to the car park. The Sun shon brightly throughout and after a pint and a bowl of soup at a local Inn we all agreed it was well worth the drive over.

Alison

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… another very good year for the club; a prize at the Carrow Cup, a very bracing trip to see the Seals at Blakeney Point from Morston, the Great River Race and a week in the Lake District, just to name a few.

The Christmas party went down well and we have maintained at least 1 row every week. The boats are all in pretty good fettle and (thanks to Alison) we have our oars re-leathered. The events calendar still has some rows left to 2017, so let Will know if you are interested.

My personal thanks to all our members for yet another interesting and varied year for the club; have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Bob

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Sunday 8th October
Five of us headed over to the broads for what turned out to be a lovely long row 12 kilometres in all, with a couple of stops for the usual tea cake and biscuits. The slipway was small but perfect for launching our boat. The rain stayed away and the sun was out for most of the row. Afterwards we stopped at a local pub for a quick drink and a round up of the day which we all concluded was well worth the drive. Our thanks go out to Scottie for towing and giving lifts.

After slight confusion as to the teams and our team had a team member missing we all jumped into our boats and set off to row down to the holding area I was in Ouse Rewet who were then called back to the beach (tricky as all other boats were heading out from the beach) to pick up our missing team member Mark H who had got lost and walked over 5 miles looking for us!!

So out we rowed again… And found our way to the start where we Spotted Lynn Rewet The sun was shining it was really lovely to be rowing on the Thames surrounded by so many other boats and rowers many in fancy dress and team colours from all over Britain and abroad.

We all got off to a flying start Lynn Rewet were ahead for a time but Ouse Rewet made good time and caught them up there was a bit of friendly rivalry as we stayed quite close for a while then Ouse Rewet had a collision! And Lynn Rewet went ahead…Ouse Rewet soon caught up and steamed pass. Ouse Rewet went a fair distance ahead then lost sight of Lynn Rewet As the race went on through London it was fairly hard going and choppy on the bends but plenty to look at and many bridges (22 in all I think) so the time soon went.

We continued to make good progress and were quite pleased and surprised to be overtaking other boats!! at about the half way mark, Mark C wanted a row so swapped with me which cost us a bit of time but we soon got back into the Rhythm and continued to make good progress. After another hour of rowing the boredom started to set in so we started chanting and counting to chivvy ourselves along also at this point we were in the middle of a horrid storm with thunder and lightning right over head and driving rain. Then finally Scottie said we were nearing the finish line so we all had a final last surge of energy and went flying through the finish line to the sound of cannon!! which was really exciting!

Ouse Rewet finished at 3.16.29

And came in 220th Followed 11 minutes later by Lynn Rewet who finished at 3.27.09

And came in 258th

last year’s team finished in 3.32.39

And were 260th

So all in all a good result with Lynn Rewet beating last years’ time by 5 mins and two places And Ouse Rewet, smashing last year’s team by 16 mins and moving up 40 places !!!!!! After, some of us went for a drink in the big disco tent but were too worn out to stay for the prize giving.

Well done to all……and thank you to the towers Bob and Julian and really big thank you to Scottie for organising everything Ps the winning boat was a St Ayles Skiff that finished in 2.32.52!!!!!

So everything to aim for…!

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My thanks to Alison for the bones of this post: We arrived in plenty of time to meet our back up team then turned ourselves in to Elves in the pub car park! We launched Ouse Rewet down the very steep ramp, eyed up some of the competition and collected our number.

Jumped in the skiff and made our way down the river to the start … And we were off…. We rowed hard and fast it was a warm day and we were hot! We were doing OK then a bit of a tangle of oars and I think someone might of sworn!! But we kept on going as fast as we could getting hotter and hotter. It was hard work! But we made it in 26 minutes.

And although we didn’t win the races; the Elves from Lynn certainly bought a smile to a few Faces!!!

After the boat was towed away (thank you towing team) we got a lift back up the river to the boat house and had bacon butties toast eggs beans and mugs of tea. Still in our Elf costumes we got a Taxi back to the start pub for a pint and back home.

Denver Sluice saw a different type of Rowing Boat upon the water on Sunday not the sleek Sculls of the local rowing club but our wonderful St Ayles Skiff.

We had a great turn out for the club with some new members some (ehem!) old members and a couple of have-a-goers.

So we had both Rewets out on the water with full crews which is always good to see, and a couple of tag-a-longs in Kayaks (don’t ask different adventure).

The sun shone brightly on the two crews as they set off towards Hilgay if albeit a tad on the windy side (again not fun in an inflatable Kayak).

The crews set off in good form with the new guys and gals picking it up quickly with instruction from our competent Cox’s and our experienced crews.

The two crews attempted to get to Hilgay with tight banks and moored boats with the use of short oars and bow and stroke sides, but alas they were forced to turn back so with both crews returning to the slip for much needed hot chocolate and flapjacks and catch up.

A good successful location for when the tides aren’t right or for training.

Thank you Denver.

Next Time…. Wells-Next-Sea Saturday 22/10/16

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A very popular display this year. We were asked to steward Lynn’s pontoons and have our boats on show. We were busy all day giving people try-rides in both Ouse Rewet and our safety RIB. We also launched the boats at dead low water at the slipway. An interesting exercise where we all learned a lot. A stout piece if rope was invaluable.

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